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Saturday, October 31, 2015

To save forests, Kenyan tea factory brews new way to dry tea

By Anthony Langat

THIKA, Kenya, August 3
(Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The first thing that strikes you as you enter
the Makomboki Tea Factory is the air. It's clear, absent of the dark smoke that
billows from the boilers of Kenya's other tea factories.

Of the 66 tea factories
under the management of the Kenya Tea Development Authority, Makomboki is the
only one that doesn't use firewood in the processing of its tea.

Instead, the factory has
switched to a greener, cheaper fuel: briquettes made of biomass byproducts that
would otherwise be treated as waste.

"We have not used a
single cubic meter of firewood in the last six months and we are excited about
that," said factory manager John Gitau.

In 2010, the
International Trade Centre started a training project aimed at teaching Kenya's
tea producers climate change mitigation techniques.

Factory worker delivers factory waste. TRF/Anthony Langat

Inspired by what they
learned, Makomboki's board of directors decided to shift their fuel source from
firewood to briquettes. Since then, the factory has scaled up its use of
alternative fuels and weaned itself of its dependence on firewood.

Makomboki makes its
briquettes thanks to a project designed by Living Earth Foundation, a UK-based
charity working to tackle the energy challenge facing Kenyan tea producers.
Funding for the Makomboki briquette production plant was provided by the
European Commission and British retailer Marks & Spencer, which buys tea
from the factory.

The husks for the
briquettes come from other factories within Muranga and Kiambu counties and the
sawdust from mills near Makomboki.

"Saw millers
actually have a problem finding ways to dispose of their sawdust," said
Gitau. "We are helping them get rid of their waste."

According to Gitau, in
the six months that it takes the factory to produce around 2.5 million
kilograms (5.5 million pounds) of tea, their boilers used to consume up to
10,000 cubic meters of wood - the equivalent of 30,000 trees.

By swapping firewood for
sawdust and briquettes, he said, Makomboki alone will have saved 60,000 trees
in the course of a year.

"If the same
practice is replicated by all the factories in Kenya, we will have saved a lot
of trees and contributed to a better environment," said Gitau.

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